Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I bought a pumpkin for the chooks, but now, how do I serve it to them?

Boil or bake it, chop roughly and serve on a silver platter!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Silver and Pear haven't laid any since Mama went broody in July: heat, moult, broody witch, then the dog...lots of upheaval in the flock. ok, middle of September, I caught both of them picking at the crushed eggshell and oyster shell I put out for all layers. Still nothing. Found eggshell in the carport (1 egg, 2 pieces, well separated, brown shell) about a week ago. Nothing since. Nellie is supposed to lay white eggs, the sapphires : blue. The other pullets are farther away from laying...unless they REALLY surprise me. Fast forward: today snowing. When got home, Silver and Pear roosting inside coop, Nellie on next roost over. Jessica snuggled in a nest box and Thing snuggled in the coop too. Also found thisView attachment 2862843My guess is Pear or Silver. It's a bit wider than the last batch of new layer eggs. We have an egg again!

Congratulations!

 

[micstrachan]

Monday Mugs!

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I’m thinking, I will just cut the pumpkin in half horizontally and serve raw, seeds and all. But I’m doing research first.

That's what I have done. They particularly like the seeds and membranes around the seeds.

I put the seeds and pulp out for my girls thinking it would be a treat. They had a few exploratory pecks and walked off in disgust.

Maybe I need an American variety instead of a Queensland blue...

 

[micstrachan]

Another Silly Guessing Game

What color do you think everyone is going to lay?

Katydid
View attachment 2862057

Rime
View attachment 2862059

Shirina
View attachment 2862060

Platina
View attachment 2862062

Ooohhh… fun, fun! How old are they now? Are we sure Katydid is a pullet?

 

[micstrachan]

What causes the impaction in the first place?

The images I gave seen from crop surgeries were fibrous material, mostly long grass. However, my Mildred had a slow crop once after eating feathers. Ruby, too, now that I think about it.

I wish I knew what Flash ate that has her backed up.

 

[Lexicon]

I put the seeds and pulp out for my girls thinking it would be a treat. They had a few exploratory pecks and walked off in disgust.

Maybe I need an American variety instead of a Queensland blue...

Who knows? Mine pick up the seeds and beat them to death before eating!

My broody goes straight to the pumpkin when she is off the nest. There must be something in there that she feels she needs.

 

[micstrachan]

I would like to add, for all the time I have had chickens up until about 6 months ago, I had no access to a veterinarian that would treat chickens. In the course of that time I have dealt with many illnesses. Fortunately not many actual injuries. My first treatment was for a prolapse of the cloaca which required me to break the egg. There was no other way. I found a way to manage it.

I have only given antibiotics twice in my time as a chicken keeper. Once to cure Daisy's, the greatest hen ever, salpingitis. The damage from the salpingitis would prove fatal in the end anyway. The second time was to try and treat Patsy's possible E Coli infection, also unsuccessful. (I think that whatever was wrong with Patsy, the E Coli was secondary to it).

Perhaps the veterinarian could have diagnosed Patsy but who knows if she could have saved her. Since I have found a veterinarian, I have had no reason to take anyone to see her. I feel truly blessed by that.

Mostly I have learned the following in my now 8 years of backyard chicken keeping.

1. Watch for any signs of changes in behavior. You must know how they normally behave. Starting with what is normal behavior based upon the weather conditions and their condition (molting). What is normal for Hattie when she is molting is different than when she is not. Hattie will also seem lethargic compared to Phyllis when it is hot out.
2. Chickens can have off days. Sometimes I think they get headaches or tummy aches just like us.
3. You don't always need to act immediately. Because they have off days, in general I don't intervene day 1. In fact, I leave them alone. If they aren't up to snuff that day they don't need me manhandling them.
4. Treat conservatively. Don't worm or use antibiotics unless you are certain that something is actually happening. Resistance to both is real and can develop quickly if you use them too much. Without a vet, antibiotics are very hard to obtain. I had to be careful using them. I might not have been able to get more. This helped me to remember to conserve those bullets I did have.
5. Every odd colored poop does not mean they need treated. @CrazyChookChookLady was down yesterday and we were watching the girls roam the yard. Miss Aurora had a nasty runny black poo right in front of us and I off handed commented to Miss Aurora that she needed to knock that off or I was going to have to do a float on her. CCCL heard me and quickly said, "that's a pretty normal poop for eating a lot of grapes". Now I wasn't going to test after just one weird poop and I certainly wasn't going to worm her. There are a lot of grapes on the ground because I have been cleaning up the grape vines. Which leads to.......
6. It's usually not a zebra. In my experience it is almost always something simple and they can take care of it themselves. Chickens do have pretty good immune systems. Somehow they know what to eat of drink. Yes sometimes they need help but most of the time they just need access to choices. Free range time or more selections from you will do more to help them than any medical intervention ever would.
7. Leave them with the others if at all possible. The tribe is their support system. Unless it would somehow be infectious, I would not remove an unwell chook from the tribe. Both Patsy and Daisy were with their friends right to the end.

I'm going to stop here as this has gotten really long. In short, be conservative, give them a chance to right themselves, and above all, know your chicken's normal.

I agree with all of this.

 

[micstrachan]

Molting Monday:
Yay, I finally got the camera to connect to the computer

After 3 trips to Best Buy and with the help of their 'trained geeks' and with camera in hand.

The Buff Orpington is 'Blondie", she is 2.5 yo. The other hen is 'Momma" (my first ever to hatch chicks for me) - She is a Welsommer and is 3.5 y.o. Nearly everyone is having hard molts this year (Except, of course, Chicken Little - an Americauna who ALWAYS thinks the sky is falling...but still looks well coiffed even when molting!)

Ooof! Those are some molts!

 

[micstrachan]

I dunno peeps. It’s windy and cold here. Fires are still burning and the air quality is lousy. I brought all my chicken friends inside, to the chickens room. So now for them, it’s meally worms and a movie!

It’s windy and cold up here, too, Alex! When I got home from work to let the girls free range, they were too scared of the wind to venture very far from the coop and run.